In many server applications, processors, along with their associated electronics (e.g., memory, disc drives, power supplies, etc.) are packaged in removable drawer or subsystem configurations stacked within an electronics rack or frame, including information technology (IT) equipment. In other cases, the electronics may be in fixed locations within the rack.
As is known, as circuit density of electronic devices continues to increase in order to achieve faster and faster processing speeds, there is corresponding demand for circuit devices to be packed more closely together, and for the circuits themselves to be operated at increasingly higher clock speeds. Each new generation of processors and associated electronics continues to offer increased speed and function. In most cases, this has been accomplished by a combination of increased power dissipation and increased packaging density. The net result has been increased circuit density at all levels of packaging, including at the electronics rack level. This increased packaging density continues to require enhancements to rack-level enclosure designs, and associated structures, as well as to enhanced cooling approaches within a data center.
In many applications, electronics racks may be cooled by air moving in airflow paths, usually front to back, impelled by one or more air-moving devices (e.g., fans or blowers). Typically, increased power dissipation within a rack requires greater airflow through the rack, and thus, the use of more powerful air-moving devices or the use of increased rotational speed (i.e., RPM's) of existing air-moving devices within the rack. As a result of this increasing airflow through an electronics rack, acoustic noise generated by the air-moving devices within the electronics rack(s) can rise to unacceptably high levels.